


Patience is a Virtue

by TaleasOldasTimeandSpace



Series: Fairy Tales and Hokum [9]
Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: As you do, Crack, F/M, Fluff, I've reread the first part of this fic so many times I can't tell if it's funny or not anymore, MurderVision brotp, Pray for the day Emma gets her comeuppance, The Mummy AU, Will Wy'att have any lines besides yelling 'Jeska' in this fic?, flirting during life and death situations, garcy, just take it, probably not, she's just the worst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-05 15:46:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18831721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaleasOldasTimeandSpace/pseuds/TaleasOldasTimeandSpace
Summary: Our heroes have a Cunning Plan, and our villains counter with a Dastardly Plot





	Patience is a Virtue

**Author's Note:**

> Happy 80th story to meeeee!

Lucy pushed through the doors of the Museum of Antiquities for the second time that day.  Precisely nothing had changed from when she was there earlier, and she couldn’t decide if that was comforting or really, _really_ annoying.

It might be the end of the world, but the Museum of Antiquities would carry on as usual, thank you very much.

Madam Christopher met them at the top of the stairs.  ‘How is it that you lot look worse than you did this morning?’

‘And yet you look fabulous, as always,’ Jiya said, tossing her a cheeky salute.

‘Flattery will get you a lot of things, Miss Mari, but it won’t get you out of having your pockets checked before you leave.  And I want that ceremonial dagger you nicked this morning back.’

Jiya’s grin was unrepentant as she pulled the dagger from her waistband.  ‘Just keeping you on your toes, Madam Christopher.’

‘From what I've heard, I'm not the one who needs to stay on her toes,’ the director observed drily.

Jiya opened her mouth, but Lucy cut her off with a quick elbow.  ‘It's been a long day, and it's going to be a longer night.  I've got an idea, but I need to look at the Rock.’

Madam Christopher nodded, sliding the dagger into her pocket.  ‘Follow me.’

The Rock was a large slab of black stone, covered in hieroglyphics.  Up until the puzzle box that started this whole apocalyptic debacle, it was almost the only source of information on Hamunaptra.  Certainly the only source that wasn’t rooted in hearsay.  It also contained the only mention of the location of the Book of Amun Ra.  That location was obviously wrong, but Lucy was hoping it was a matter of faulty translation, rather than flat-out lying on the part of the ancient Egyptians who carved the thing.  One was so much easier to resolve than the other.

As they reached the hallway where the Rock was displayed, a commotion outside drew them to the window.  ‘Oh, that’s a problem.’  Jiya’s voice was faint as they stared at the courtyard below.

It was filled with what looked like the entire population of Cairo.  Egyptian merchants in robes and turbans stood next to soldiers from the fort, foreign archeologists behind stick-thin street children.  All were covered in boils and weeping sores, and all stared up at the Museum with silent, unnerving focus.

‘What’s _wrong_ with them?’  Lucy asked.

‘They’ve become the creature’s slaves,’ Rufus said.  ‘So that’s it then.  The beginning of the end.’

Garcia pointed a stern finger at him.  ‘First of all, that’s defeatist talk.  Second, why are we boil-free and in our right minds?  Seems like that’s the kind of thing he would want to hit us with first.’

‘Come now, Mr. Flynn.’  They all turned at Madam Christopher’s voice.  ‘You don’t think that I, as the director of this museum _and_ a member of an ancient secret society, would leave this place unprotected?  I placed wards around the building, obviously.’

‘Really?’ Karl asked.  ‘Can I live here?’ Noah and Stiv had been drained when Wy’att broke into Lucy's quarters, and his status as the last of the Americans was clearly weighing on him.

Unless you counted Emma.  Which no one did.

‘I wouldn’t advise it.  It's not particularly homey in here, and the wards won’t protect against a concentrated physical attack.  They will buy us some time, that's all.’

‘We need all the time we can get.’  Lucy turned from the window and marched over to the Rock.  ‘Madam Christopher, would you help me?’

It seemed like they’d barely started working through the hieroglyphics, Lucy a few lines from the top and Madam Christopher twice as many from the bottom—she always had been faster than Lucy—when the crowd outside apparently got bored with the silent staring routine and began chanting the mummy’s name.  

‘Well, our friend has arrived.’  Lucy glanced up as Garcia materialized at her shoulder.

‘But he can’t get us as long as we’re in here, right?’  She traced the line of text as she read.  ‘We’ve got time.’

‘Not much, if they try to break down the door.’  There was a dull _thud_ from below.  ‘Which they’re trying.’

She waved a hand, not looking away from the hieroglyphs.  ‘Don’t rush me.’

 _‘Draga_ , if I don’t rush you, they will.  And they’ll be a lot less polite about it.’

There was a warm burst of _feelings_ in her chest at the endearment—she assumed (hoped?) it was an endearment—that she absolutely did not have time to examine at the moment.

‘Wait a minute,’ Jiya called from the window, ‘are you two doing pet names now?  Is that what this is?’

Lucy started on the next line.  ‘No, this is me ignoring you while I try to save the world.’

‘Okay, that’s fair.  I’m going to go start the car.  Rufus, you’re with me.’

‘What?  Why?’

‘Safety in numbers, obviously.  Also you’re cute, and I want something nicer to look at than boil-covered drones while we wait for the others.’

‘Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!’ Lucy sang after them.

‘That doesn't leave me a lot of room to maneuver, Lucy.’

‘Actually, it's probably a bigger margin than you think.’  Rufus sounded friendlier than Lucy had ever heard him as he followed Jiya down the hall.  ‘She _did_ wake the creature and trigger the end of the world, after all.’

‘The world hasn't ended yet!’ Lucy yelled after them.  ‘And it won't, not if I have anything to say about it.’  She turned to Garcia with a grin.  ‘I've got it!’

* * *

 

Jiya and Rufus were met with a zombie stampede when they came out the Museum's side entrance.  Rufus drew a scimitar and stepped in front of Jiya, but she put a hand on his arm.  ‘Wait, just follow my lead.’

‘Jiya—’

 _‘Trust_ me, Rufus.’  He sighed, but slid the scimitar back into his belt.  She grinned, then stepped forward, letting her face go blank.   _‘Wy’att.  Wy’att. Wy’att.’_  As she copied the chant, the zombies slowed and calmed, no longer looking like they were ready to rend the pair of them limb from limb.

Behind her, Rufus let out an incredulous snort before joining her chant.  Together, they lumbered their way through the crowd until the last of the zombies had disappeared into the Museum and they were free.  She immediately ran for the car and threw herself into the driver’s seat, starting it up as Rufus dropped into the seat behind her. ‘I can’t believe that worked.’

‘What can I say.’  She threw the car into gear and started for the main entrance.  ‘Lucy’s not the only genius in this family.’

Lucy, Flynn, and the others were spilling out the doors as Jiya brought the car around the corner of the building.  She hadn't even come to a complete stop before they were piling into the open seats. Jiya blinked. Even Madam Christopher was making for the car.  She'd never seen the director outside of the Museum before. She didn't think she _could_ leave the Museum.  

Flynn snagged the front passenger, tugging Lucy down into his lap as the others climbed in the back.  Jiya raised a pointed eyebrow at them, and watched with unholy delight as her sister _and_ Flynn turned pink.  

Before she could say anything, Karl pounded on the back of her seat.  ‘What are you waiting for?  Get us out of here!’

Right.  Escaping was the thing they were doing now.  She could tease Lucy when they were safe.  And she _would_ be teasing Lucy when they were safe.

As she pulled away from the Museum, Emma burst through the doors.  She must have come in one of the side entrances with the zombies.  Catching sight of them, she turned back to screech, ‘Wy’att!  They’re out here!  Wy’att!’

‘Why are you such a terrible person, Emma?’ Jiya yelled over her shoulder as she stomped on the gas.

Flynn twisted to fire one-handed at Emma, the other still wrapped securely around Lucy’s waist.  Jiya wasn’t sure if it was the angle or if he just wasn’t trying, but the bullet pinged harmlessly into the doorframe next to Emma’s head.

Knowing Flynn, it was probably the latter.  He tended to shoot at things to make a statement, the way other—normal—people would yell insults.

Case in point, Emma—not that she was, by any stretch of the imagination, normal—cupped her hands around her mouth.  ‘You’re going to have to try a lot harder than that, Flynn!  Getting soft in your old age?’

‘The next time I see you, Emma, I will kill you.’  Flynn’s voice was pleasant, as if he was remarking on the chance of rain tomorrow (not likely, given the time of year and the looming possibility of the apocalypse).

‘Don’t make promises you can’t keep!’

Jiya didn’t have any direction in mind other than _away_ , making turns almost at random as she attempted to get them out of the city.  This served them well, right up until it didn’t.  Turning a corner onto one of the market streets, she slammed the breaks almost immediately.  The road was blocked by a thick knot of drones.  She chewed her lip as they stared at each other, wondering if she could bring herself to just drive through them.  She couldn’t hold them responsible for being controlled by Wy’att, but she didn’t want to just sit there and do nothing while they tore her limb from limb, either.  Her fingers tightened on the steering wheel.

Lucy did that annoying older sister thing where she occasionally read Jiya’s mind.  ‘We can’t!  It’s not their fault their under Wy’att’s power, they’re victims!’

‘They want to kill us!’

‘But not on purpose!’

Flynn leaned his forehead into Lucy's hair.  ‘Lucy, _draga,_ I'm sorry, but Jiya’s right.  At this point it’s them or us, and I vote us.’

That was the only warning Jiya got before he slammed his foot down on top of hers where it rested on the gas pedal.  The engine roared in protest before instinct made her release the clutch, sending them lurching forward.  ‘If you've ruined my transmission you won't have to worry about the zombies, Flynn,’ she yelled.  ‘I will murder you myself.’

He shrugged.  ‘Get in line,’ he replied, not at all perturbed by threats on his life.

How utterly shocking.

They plowed into the crowd of drones like a bowling ball, sending people flying in all directions.  A few, apparently still in possession of decent reflexes, managed to grab onto the car, trying to pull them out.  Jiya concentrated on driving, trusting the others to keep the zombies off her back while she tried not to steer them into a wall.  Perhaps out of respect for Lucy's sensibilities, they opted to push the drones off, rather than shoot them point-blank.

Jiya was just starting to think they might get out after all, when one of the zombies showed a rather despicable amount of initiative and yanked the steering wheel, sending them headfirst into a fruit stand.  The car took the opportunity to protest its abuse up to this point and flatly refused to start again, no matter how she turned the key and pumped the pedals.

‘Right, everybody out!’  Flynn lifted Lucy over the car door.  ‘Out, out, out!  You too, Jiya!’ he added, reaching back to pull her after him.

The zombies closed in around them, crowding them against one of the buildings.  Jiya pulled out her gun, taking up a position between Flynn, who had a gun in either hand, and Rufus, who was brandishing both scimitars.  On the other side of him, Madam Christopher held the dagger she'd confiscated as if she knew how to use it.  Which, considering everything, she probably did.

‘Where's Karl?’

Lucy's question pulled Jiya from her staring contest with the zombies.  The last American was nowhere to be seen.  ‘Don't look at _me,’_ she said.  ‘I was driving, remember?’

‘We _lost_ him?’

‘Lucy,’ Rufus’ voice was exasperated, ‘in case you hadn't noticed, we've all been a little preoccupied with trying to stay alive.’

‘But—’

The crowd went abruptly silent, parting to allow Emma and Wy’att through.

Wy’att, who looked nothing like the mummy who had been terrorizing them for the last few days.

‘I think I know what happened to Karl,’ Flynn muttered.

* * *

 

Fully regenerated, Wy'att looked so normal it was jarring.  If Garcia hadn't spent the last few days watching him transition from animated corpse to appallingly powerful psychopath, he could have easily mistaken the erstwhile mummy for one of his fellow legionnaires.

Wy'att’s guileless blue eyes locked on Lucy and he grinned, bright and friendly.  As if he hadn't been responsible for the deaths of dozens of people. Holding out a hand, he spoke directly to her, ignoring everyone else in the square.

‘He says agree to be his human sacrifice and he'll let your friends live.'  Emma's voice was bored as she played with her knife.

‘That is a terrible translation.  You took all the poetry out of it.'  Jiya's gun entered his peripheral vision as she shifted her aim to Emma.  ‘Not that poetry would make it any less of an absolutely _horrible_ idea.'

‘Wy’att might think she’s his princess, but it doesn’t make her mine,’ Emma sneered.  ‘I’m just in it for the money, and I’m _not_ getting paid to make flowery speeches.  Personally, I’m not entirely sure I’m being paid enough to put up with you.’

_‘You little—’_

‘Oh.'  Lucy's voice was almost inaudible, but it was still enough to pull him from contemplating the effects of putting a bullet directly between Wy'att's insipid eyes.  (Probably useless, but the temporary satisfaction was enticing.)  ‘Does anyone have any ideas? A plan?  Anything?  I'm not picky.  I'd settle for twelve percent of a plan.'

He shifted so that he was between her and Wy'att.  ‘I'm working on it.'

‘Right.  That’s was I was afraid of.'  Sucking in a deep breath, she added, ‘Work fast, please, because this is a really terrible idea.’  Before he could stop her she darted around him to take Wy'att's hand.

‘Lucy!'  He made a grab for her, but Rufus clamp his hands around his arm.  He still managed to drag the Medjai forward a couple of feet before Madam Christopher grabbed his other arm.  ‘Let me go! _Lucy!’_

‘What are you _doing?'_  Jiya’s voice was frantic.  He knew exactly how she felt.

‘Buying you time.’  Lucy looked far too calm considering she was holding hands with the creature who wanted her dead.

‘That is not a plan!  That isn’t even twelve percent of a plan!’

‘Look, he’s got to take me back to Hamunaptra,’ Lucy hissed, clearly exasperated.  Her irritation would have made him smile, if he weren’t _terrified_ by her propensity for self-sacrifice. ‘That should be enough time for you to come up with something.’

‘She’s right.’  Rufus’ voice was strained from the effort of holding Garcia back.   _Good._  ‘This is our best shot.’

He darted a poisonous glare at the other man. ‘How about I just shoot you?’

‘Threats don’t mean much if you don’t live to follow through.’

‘Garcia, please.’  Lucy’s voice was enough to draw his focus back to her.  ‘You know I have to do this.’

‘No!’  He struggled, but Rufus and Madam Christopher refused to let him go.  All he could do was watch helplessly as Wy’att pulled Lucy through the crowd.

Emma stepped in front of him, cutting off his view of Lucy.  ‘Well this has been entertaining, hasn’t it?’

 _‘I’m going to kill you!’_ he roared, lunging toward her.

‘Flynn, knock it off!’ Rufus wheezed.

Emma _tsked_.  ‘I told you not to make promises you couldn’t keep, Flynn,’ she said, flicking his nose before swiping the puzzle box from Jiya’s pocket.  ‘It’s been fun, kids.’

‘Hey!’ Jiya yelped, making a grab at her, but Emma darted into the crowd.

Wy’att’s voice rose over the sound of their yells.  Whatever he said made the drones close in around them, chanting his name.

‘No!’  He couldn’t see Lucy anymore, but her horror was clearly audible.  ‘You _promised._  Let me go!’

‘Come now, _princess,’_ Emma called after her with a laugh.  ‘You didn’t _really_ think he’d let them live, did you?  Are you really that gullible?’

Rufus and Madam Christopher _finally_ let him go, but it was far too late to do anything about Lucy.  All he could do now was make sure they lived so that they could actually use the time she’d bought.  He backed away from the mob, catching Jiya’s arm when she tried to follow her sister.

‘Let me go, Flynn!  We have to get her back!’

‘We will, but not that way.’  He took another step back, and the ground shifted beneath his foot.  Glancing down, he felt the first spark of hope since they’d been cornered by Wy’att.  

A sewer grating.  Maybe they weren’t going to die tonight after all.

Jiya huffed, shrugging off his hand.  ‘I’m open to suggestions.’

‘I’ve got one.  Rufus, help me get this open.’

As soon as the grate was open he grabbed Jiya’s hands and lowered her down, then did the same for Madam Christopher.  He held out a hand to Rufus, but the Medjai shook his head, brandishing his scimitars at the mob.

‘Go!  I’ll buy you time!’

Garcia rolled his eyes.  ‘No one else is going to buy me time tonight,’ he growled, taking a fistful of Rufus’ robe and tossing him after the women.  As soon as the hole was clear he followed, grasping fingers snatching at him as he dropped. He managed to pull the grate closed before any of the drones could follow them.

Madam Christopher directed them out of the city, because of _course_ she had the Cairo sewer system memorized.  Garcia refused to let them rest until he was sure they were no longer at risk of being torn to pieces by Wy’att’s slaves.

‘So what do we do now?’ Jiya demanded wearily.  It was the first she’d spoken since they’d entered the sewers.  She looked like she barely had the energy to glare at Garcia from where she slumped against the sewer wall.  ‘You were supposed to protect Lucy, and now she’s as good as dead.’

He flinched.  She wasn’t wrong.  

‘That’s hardly fair, Jiya,’ Madam Christopher said mildly.

‘Oh, shut it.  You didn’t lift a finger to stop her.  At least Flynn tried, but you just had to hold him back, didn’t you?’

‘They would have killed us—’ Rufus started, but Jiya threw a hand in the air, cutting him off.

‘I am _not_ talking to you right now,’ she snapped.

The Medjai chieftain, commander of the desert tribes, wilted in the face of her anger.  Garcia _almost_ felt sorry for him.

Before she could go on another rant, he cleared his throat.  ‘Lucy’s not dead yet. We just have to get back to Hamunaptra.’

‘How?’ Jiya asked.  ‘It took us a week to get there before, and I seriously doubt Wy’att’s going to bother with camels.’

Rufus held up a hand.  ‘I may know a guy who can help us.’

Garcia grinned.  Judging by Madam Christopher and Rufus’ faces, it probably wasn’t a very pleasant expression.  He didn’t care. ‘In that case, I have twelve percent of a plan.’

**Author's Note:**

> *finger guns* S'uuuup? It's been a short age, I'm sorry. I've gotten stuck so many times on this particular installment, it's not even funny. Maybe its *gasp* c u r s e d.  
> I'm going to finish it, though! I am determined!


End file.
